Hensol Castle may be relatively new to distilling, having only been running for two and a half years, but its history with the spirit goes right back. One former resident was one of the signatories involved in the infamous Gin Act of 1751, which was created to curb the gin craze which had gripped the country.
We’d been planning on visiting this new distillery in South Wales for a while, after a friend bought us a gin making experience there as a gift a few years back. Whizzing our way westward to Wales one January weekend, we hopped just off the M4 into the small village of Hensol and the estate of the castle itself to finally use our voucher.
Greeted in a very modern reception, clad in glass and copper, we waited for the full group to arrive (12 people in total) before our charismatic host Andrew took us down to the castle’s cellars to talk us through the history of gin and the castle over a glass of their blackberry gin and lemonade.
Exploring the library of botanicals started to get us thinking what could work and what balances we could look for in the flavours of our gins. Shelves upon shelves of jars, as well as interactive tablets on tables to learn more about certain key botanicals and their origins.
Sniffing our way through your usual spices and citruses, through to less common botanicals like tonka beans, turmeric, hops and even horseradish.
We wanted to craft a gin that would lend itself to being in a negroni: something with orange notes and spices. Orange peel, cherry, star anise, allspice, and rosehip alongside a strong juniper backbone, as well as orris root and coriander seed. The distillery helpfully have guides of rough quantities you might want to save anyone from going way overboard with any one flavour, and balances in terms of making sure there are elements across spice, citrus, herbal, floral and fruit notes.
While we waited for our 1ltr stills to do their work, we were introduced to Gerald, the German-made copper pot still named after the distillery’s octogenarian owner. We also got to taste a few gins from across their range, their London dry stood out with 11 locally sourced botanicals which was floral, light and delicious, while their flavoured gins (bottled under the name Benjamin Hall, another notable former resident) were too sweet and lacked enough juniper for me. With more on the way soon under the Hensol Castle-named range, those are ones I’ll be keeping a close eye on and looking forward to tasting.
Once the stills had done their magic, we diluted them with filtered Welsh water, had the alcohol level checked and headed up to the bar to wrap the experience up with a refreshing celebratory G&T with their Hensol Castle London dry gin.
We had a great time and learnt a lot crafting and balancing the botanicals, already spotting things we’d alter in our next batch should we get that opportunity in future. It’s a beautiful distillery on a rapid trajectory and one I’ll be keeping a close eye on.
I’ve also had the pleasure of visiting other distilleries including Silent Pool (Surrey, UK), Bloody Ben’s (South London, UK), Beefeater (London, UK), Broken Heart (Arrowtown, New Zealand), The Gin Kitchen (Surrey, UK), and Sipsmith (West London, UK).